Desktop won't boot, stuck in uefi ez mode

[colin79ie]

Hi,
Sons desktop pc won’t start, just keeps going into Asus uefi ez mode.
I suspect the hard drive might have a problem?

Are there steps to go through to diagnose and/or fix it?

[veeg]

Hello

Post the complete pc spec’s including the complete psu spec’s. Also any hardware changes? Any new software installed?

[colin79ie]

No new software installed. It just happened today when he went to start it up.

Maybe a silly question but how do I post all the specs without access to windows?
Can that info be obtained through the uefi screens?

[veeg]

Lol.. well that is not all that silly.

Ok what is the name and model number of the pc? That should be on a tag on the pc case.

[colin79ie]

It was a custom build, from a reputable company. I’ll see what I can get from it but I don’t see any stickers.
AMD Ryzen 3 3109 4 core.
16Gb DDR 4
512GB SSD
BIOS 5602 x64

For info, I checked the connections to the SSD and afterwards the uefi bios screen could ‘see’ the SSD, where it couldn’t before. But when I reboot it goes back to the uefi screen and now the SSD is not there again.

[veeg]

Hmm. Ok let’s get more help.

@Bruce

[colin79ie]

I have some pictures which I will try to add[ATTACH type=“full”]10468[/ATTACH]

[Bruce]

I would take it all apart and re-assemble on a piece of cardboard somewhere.
that process allows you to inspect and clean all the parts, plus only re-connect the core essential components, plus allow for easier swapping in and out of parts as things are replaced for testing.

but yeah - first thing I would be getting my hands on is another drive.
does the rig have a mechanic hard drive in it at all?
or get your hands on one just to connect and see how far it boots then?

[colin79ie]

I don’t think I’m techy enough for all that. However, I can check the connections again and see what happens.

I’m leaning towards replacing the drive with a new one. I could probably manage that. Is it an easy or difficult task to replace and get windows back?
I was quoted €110 to have it repaired…

[PeterOz]

if you have a spare usb stick you can download the windows tool
Choose repair and see if it finds the SSD and try a repair.
Note the files on the usb will be deleted so you will need to copy them somewhere else first.
When the usb is created set the bios to boot from usb
Then at the install screen choose repair

Download the win 10 tool run it to recreate the flash drive – Must be minimum 8GB

Download Windows 10

If you have data you need off the drive Pics, Documents etc then we would be best to create a linux usb first and see if we can access the drive.
We will give details on how to create the usb.

[colin79ie]

Ok. I have done the usb thing and when I get as far as ‘custom’ install, the next screen says ‘Drive 0 Unallocated space. 0.0Mb’
Below it says it can’t install windows on this drive…

[PeterOz]

So you don’t need data of this drive?
Lets try this

Convert MBR to GPT

NB this will wipe all data from the drive
Boot from Win 10 install usb
When you get to the startup screen (pic attached)
Press Shift + F10 key
you should get a X:> prompt
What is in blue you type in red you do
e.g Enter press enter key

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Diskpart [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]list disk [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]Select disk n [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter (n=the disk you wish to convert)

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]clean [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]convert gpt [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]exit [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter

[COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)]exit [COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]enter
[ATTACH type=“full”]10473[/ATTACH][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Bruce]

@colin79ie - any luck?

[Bruce]

abandoned